Engagement with the private sector was put forward for discussion by Thailand at the Sixtyfirst Regional Committee for South-East Asia in 2008, to be developed as an agenda item for the 124th Executive Board in January 2009. The Executive Board agreed that the topic be further deliberated upon at the Sixty-second World Health Assembly in 2009. In light of the urgent issue of the influenza A (‎H1N1)‎ outbreak, Member States agreed that the topic of engagement with the private sector be postponed for discussion at the Sixty-third World Health Assembly ...

The recognition of health as a key element for sustainable development and global security has resulted in a substantial increase in global resources for health in recent years; these stood at US$ 22 billion in 2007. At the same time, the diversity and number of health actors have also increased significantly. With this proliferation of actors in health, WHO, particularly at country level must coordinate its work, through effective partnerships, not only with government authorities and other UN agencies, but also with donors, NGOs and the private ...

The attached working paper highlights the most significant and relevant decisions and resolutions emanating from the Sixty-second World Health Assembly (‎held from 16-20 May 2009)‎ as well as the 124th and 125th Sessions of the Executive Board (‎held from 19-27 January 2009 and on 23 May 2009 respectively)‎. These decisions and resolutions are particularly relevant to the Member States of the WHO South-East Asia (‎SEA)‎ Region, have obvious and immediate implications for them, and would merit follow-up action by both Member States as well as WHO at the ...

The 126th session of the Executive Board will be held in Geneva from 18 to 23 January 2010. The draft provisional agenda for the 126th session of the Executive Board was submitted to the High-level Preparatory (‎HLP)‎ Meeting for the Regional Committee, held in New Delhi, from 29 June to 2 July 2009 for its review. The HLP meeting reviewed the draft provisional agenda of the 126th session of the Executive Board and requested the Secretariat to ensure that those agenda items deferred from the Sixty-second World Health Assembly to the 126th session ...

The South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund (‎SEARHEF)‎ was established through the Regional Committee resolution SEA/RC60/R7. As per the fund’s policies and guidelines, a working group was established to oversee the management of the fund. The working group comprised representatives nominated by all the 11 Member States of the South-East Asia Region. The fund’s resources have been successfully managed and utilized in respect of the following emergencies since it was made operational in January 2008: Cyclone Nargis (‎Myanmar, May 2008)‎; flash ...

Polio eradication continues to be a priority in the South-East Asia Region. In the first four months of 2009*, 40 polio cases were detected in India with 14 type 1 poliovirus (‎P1)‎ and 26 type 3 poliovirus (‎P3)‎ cases. This paper presents an update on the progress and challenges in polio eradication. At the start of 2008 a reduction in the transmission of P1 cases, particularly in western Uttar Pradesh (‎UP)‎ was seen, which, however, was offset by re-importation from Bihar in the latter half of the year, resulting in 62 type P1 cases. Rapid and ...

This document highlights the progress made in the South-East Asia Region following the adoption of resolution SEA/RC59/R6 on strengthening the health workforce (‎HWF)‎ in South- East Asia by the Regional Committee for South-East Asia in Dhaka, Bangladesh in September 2006. Many of the activities have been specified in the South-East Asia Regional Strategic Plan for Human Resource Development, which has been finalized following endorsement by the Fifty-ninth session of the Regional Committee. The overall goal is to ensure equitable access to effective ...

After intensive negotiations over a two-year period, the World Health Assembly in May 2008 adopted resolution WHA61.21 on public health, innovation and intellectual property together with the global strategy and plan of action (‎GSPOA)‎. Several outstanding issues were finalized and adopted during the Sixty-second World Health Assembly in May 2009. The GSPOA aims to promote new thinking on innovation and access to medicines, and to enhance needs-based research and development (‎R&D)‎ relevant to diseases that mainly affect developing countries. The ...

The involvement of WHO in combating counterfeit medicines is based on its role in public health; counterfeit medicines would affect the health-care system and lead to adverse health effects. Counterfeit medicines also involve many other areas such as commerce, law enforcement and intellectual property rights, which make the issue complex. WHO has been engaged in combating counterfeit medicine since 1985, but this paper discusses activities since 2008. Following the World Health Assembly discussions on the topic in 2008, the WHO Regional Committee ...

The WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, vide resolution SEA/RC59/R8, requested the Regional Office to provide technical support to Member States in building and strengthening programmes on prevention of harm from alcohol use. The basis for the prevention of alcohol-related harm in the context of the South-East Asia Region should not only be disease prevention but reduction of poverty, disempowerment, prevention of violence and injuries, and improvement of well-being and social capital. Programmes should address local patterns of alcohol ...

Viruses have been freely shared through WHO Collaborating Centres on Influenza for the purpose of risk assessment and vaccine production. In 2007 Indonesia proposed that sharing of H5N1 avian influenza viruses should be tied to benefits of affordable and available vaccine. This led to a halt in the practice of freely sharing influenza viruses. A number of unsuccessful attempts have been made to resolve this impasse. The last Intergovernmental Meeting (‎IGM)‎ was convened before the World Health Assembly, on 16-17 May 2009 in Geneva. The meeting ...

The Joint Coordinating Board (‎JCB)‎ of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases Research (‎TDR)‎ acts as the governing body of the Special Programme and is responsible for its overall policy and strategy. This paper describes the background and composition of the JCB TDR and the action to be taken by the Regional Committee. It also includes a brief report on the Thirty-second session of the JCB held in Geneva, from 15 to 17 June 2009. Since the term of office of Thailand ends on 31 December 2009, the High-Level Preparatory ...

The Policy and Coordination Committee (‎PCC)‎ acts as the governing body of the Special Programme for Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction. The last PCC meeting was held from 18 to 19 June 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its report was presented to the High-Level Preparatory (‎HLP)‎ Meeting. At present, there are three Member States from the South-East Asia Region (‎Indonesia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka)‎ that are members of the PCC. Since the term of office of Myanmar ends on 31 December 2009, the HLP Meeting was requested to ...